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The Buy Pile: Marvel & DC Have Varying Approaches to Teen Heroes

Every week Hannibal Tabu (winner of the 2012 Top Cow Talent Hunt/blogger/novelist/poet/jackass on Twitter/head honcho of Komplicated) grabs a whole lotta comics. These periodicals are quickly sorted (how) into two piles — the “buy” pile (a small pile most weeks, comprised of planned purchases) and the “read” pile (often huge, often including comics that are really crappy but have some value to stay abreast of). Thursday afternoons you’ll be able to get his thoughts (and they’re just the opinions of one guy, so calm down, and here’s some common definitions used in the column) about all of that … which goes something like this …

THE BUY PILE FOR AUGUST 2, 2017

Unstoppable Wasp #8(Marvel Comics)

It shouldn’t be that much of a spoiler to know that this issue, in fact and for good, is the end of Nadia Pym. What’s more of a surprise is that there are no fewer than three moments where you will likely have to stop and take a moment, points where Jeremy Whitley’s script absolutely freaking levitates off the page. Janet Van Dyne plays fairy godmother to the young female scientists of G.I.R.L. and it’s significantly more entertaining than you would expect. Lots of credit for that goes to Ro Stein, Ted Brandt, Megan Wilson and Joe Caramagna for making those moments vibrant and engaging. This was an enormously entertaining issue.

Deathstroke #22(DC Comics)

Deathstroke #22 takes teen heroes to the school of hard knocks.

On one side, there’s an action-packed rescue mission for hostages held by a dictatorial regime. On the other side, the titular character sits down for a cup of coffee with a widely reviled supervillain. The way both of those plots weave together is a work of art, courtesy of the creative team of Christopher J. Priest, Diogenes Neves, Jason Paz, Sean Parsons, Jeromy Cox and Willie Schubert.